BALTIMORE – Over the past two seasons Liberty Union has been unquestionably the most successful football program in the area, reaching the state final four in 2012 before a road win in the playoffs last season.

Despite the recent success, the Lions enter the 2014 season with some uncertainty. Gone are 15 seniors, including 1,200-yard rusher Jacob Basso and two of the linemen who paved the way for him. Gone too are leading tackler Justin Barber and ball-hawking defensive back Tyler Magley. The most glaring absence for the Lions, however, is the architect of their recent success, as head coach Dan Johnson stepped down after 29 years at the helm.

Replacing the long-time coach is Bryan Johnson, a first-time head coach and no relation to his predecessor. Although the new hire comes with new terminology and schemes, the Lions’ expectations remain the same.

“Winning a state championship. That’s our expectation. Nothing less than that,” senior defensive back and slot receiver Tyler Makuch said. “That’s what we’ve worked for and we are going to push ourselves every single day to get there.”

To reach that lofty goal the Lions will first have to make the playoffs, which would make the current class of seniors the most successful in program history.

For Bryan Johnson, there is some pressure to get them there given the recent success, but he said the senior class is deserving of becoming the best ever at Liberty Union.

“This group of seniors is amazing, I couldn’t have walked into a better situation,” he said. “I can’t imagine that there are many Division I or Division II schools that have 21 seniors that are as tough as these kids are. That eases the pressure a lot.”

Tough or not, the Lions are still learning a more complicated offensive system than the one they’ve run in the past. Multiple players, Makuch included, are expected to play both sides of the ball and are learning how to properly run routes.

“It’s just a lot of knew concepts, getting our routes down and really working our hips,” receiver Adam Snyder said. “We didn’t really work on any route running (last year). You were just told what to do.”

While Snyder, Makuch and the other receivers are focusing on routes, new quarterback Eric Owens is keyed on getting the ball out of his hands quickly and to his play-makers in one-on-one situations.

Though the offense is nearly unrecognizable from last year’s scheme and plenty of solid players have moved on, the Lions have 21 seniors to lean on and have made few schematic changes on the defensive side of the ball. The expectations haven’t changed in Baltimore and having been to the playoffs the past two seasons, the team knows what it takes to meet them.

• Outlook The Lions have to deal with the growing pains of a new coach and a new system, but the more spread-out attack should take advantage of the athletes they have. A number of kids are being asked to play both ways so conditioning will be key.